


Maybe It Was The Chicken

by CacophonyOfWords



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-16
Updated: 2014-05-16
Packaged: 2018-01-25 02:02:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1625681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CacophonyOfWords/pseuds/CacophonyOfWords
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maybe eating chicken before sleep did indeed make Haru do some crazy things. The boy was so fixed on eating mackerel or fish in general, that probably the smallest amount of different protein would cause a chemical reaction in his brain and make him act oddly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Maybe It Was The Chicken

Rin was climbing up the stairs to Haru’s house with a quick pace, trying to reach it as fast as possible and hoping no one would catch him with the fancy umbrella with cherry blossoms and kitties printed all over that he’d ended up buying at the mini-market across the train station, when he had been caught in a sudden downpour. After ringing the doorbell a second time and waiting again for no one to come open the door, he opened the umbrella again and walked through the gate to the garden on his left, stepping through it only to stop in his tracks the second his eyes landed on the figure in the middle of the garden.

“Geez, not again,” he muttered, noticing how the light blue sweater Haru was wearing that day had darker wet blotches spread all over the shoulders –proof that Haru had apparently spent some time outside with his head tilted towards the sky.

“Oi, Haru!” he called out, stepping close to his friend and covering both of their heads with the umbrella.

Haru opened his eyes slowly and looked at Rin.

“Rin?”

“Yes?”

“You’re here,” Haru noted calmly.

Rin snorted and arched an eyebrow. “Yeah, remember the deal we had? I’m supposed to sleepover and tomorrow we’re running to your club before the joint practice?”

“… Oh,” Haru said slowly after a beat of silence. “I guess.”

“I don’t think I have enough mackerel for both of us,” he added after a second.

Rin snorted. “Don’t worry, I came prepared. I told you the other day that next time I slept over I was going to cook dinner, so I bought stuff on my way here.”

“I don’t want to eat meat.”

“You can’t live on fish o- ” A glistening in Haru’s hair caught Rin’s attention and the boy lifted a hand to Haru’s head to pick at the small ball, only to have it melt at the touch of his warm fingertips. Was that… _ice_?

“Haru!” Rin exclaimed at the realization. “Did you remain here outside under the _hail_?” he asked, recalling the icy rain that started falling soon after he had left the mini market.

“Oh.” Haru’s eyes widened and he lifted his hand to his hair as well, pulling out a few more frozen droplets of water. “I guess.” He shrugged.

“You guess?” Rin repeated after him in shock. “Just… let’s go inside so you won’t catch pneumonia or something.” He grabbed Haru’s hand and pulled him back out of the garden and inside the house.

 

* * *

  

“The bathroom is free,” Rin said a while later, stepping into Haru’s bedroom and flopping down on the futon laid out for him.

“I’ll take a bath tomorrow,” Haru muttered from where he was already nestled under the covers.

Rin quirked an eyebrow, amused. “Are you scared I’ll go through your stuff again?”

“No,” Haru deadpanned back.

Rin snorted and stood up, turning off the lights and crawling back to his futon.

He had just settled in a comfortable position when a sneeze resounded through the room.

“I knew you’d catch something,” Rin smirked in the dark.

“I’m not sick,” came Haru’s muffled reply from under the covers.

“You just sneezed,” Rin pointed out.

“My late grandma used to say that you sneeze when someone is talking about you,” Haru reasoned.

Rin scoffed. “Yes, that is me _talking about you_ being stupid for standing in the rain _and hail_ and how now you will get sick.”

“I don’t get sick!” Haru objected again.

“Then you should have yourself checked by a doctor because you must have a hell of an immune system for not getting sick despite standing in the rain, hail and swimming in the outside pool for eight months of the year.”

“It’s the mackerel,” Haru said.

Rin chuckled, “It is definitely not the mackerel!”

“Goodnight, Rin,” Haru eventually said back and Rin could hear him turning around in his bed.

“Fine, goodnight. If you wake up sick, I’m not running to the pharmacy for you,” Rin said back.

“I’ll call Makoto, then.”

 

* * *

 

Rin was sure he had barely dozed off when a rustling and deep gasping woke him up.

“Hmm, Haru?” he called out as he turned around on the futon and looked at his friend’s bed. He could see the shadow of Haru hunched over himself as he was sitting on the side of his bed, tightening the cover around his shoulders.

A deep gasp was the only thing he heard in response.

“Haru?” he asked alarmed and climbed from his own cover, kneeling in front of the other boy.

“It’s nothing,” Haru said through chattering teeth.

“It’s not nothing,” Rin snapped back. “I can see it in the dark; you are shivering. Do you have a fever?” he asked, bringing his hand to Haru’s forehead to check his temperature.

“No,” Haru said back and Rin had to agree with him; Haru’s forehead was as warm as his own. “I just need another cover,” he said in a pant and tried to stand up only to fall back on the bed; his body doubled over as obvious shivers ran through his body.

“Here.” Rin blindly grabbed the cover from his futon and wrapped it around Haru’s shoulders. “You need anything? A hot bath? Another cover?” he asked worriedly, noticing Haru’s shoulders continued to shake.

“I’m o-okay,” Haru said with his calm voice but Rin could still hear the trembling of his teeth.

Rin sighed and stood up, slowly pushing Haru by the shoulders but he stopped when the other’s hand flashed out and grabbed the tank top Rin was wearing to sleep in.

“Relax, I’m just trying to get you back to bed,” he said calmly and Haru let himself be pushed back on the bed, his hand still clenched in the fabric on Rin’s chest.

Rin made sure Haru was covered from chin to toe before he covered Haru’s hand that was still grasping his shirt with his own.

“Oi, Haru, let me go,” he said in a half joke. He had no idea what was going on; he could see Haru was still shivering under the covers, albeit less than just a couple of minutes earlier.

“Get in here,” Haru said, his breathing still deep among the shivers.

Rin’s eyes bulged in the dark in the surprise.

“In the bed with you?” he sputtered, shocked.

“The only other covers are in the attic,” Haru reasoned and Rin had to marvel at his friend for managing to keep his usual stoic voice even while trembling like a leaf.

“Fine,” Rin said, suddenly feeling a sense of warmth spreading all over his face. “Scoot over?” he asked as he lifted the corner of the covers, waiting as Haru barely moved from the middle of the bed before climbing in.

“Sharing a bed was way easier when we were kids,” Rin noted as he tried to get into a comfortable position, his head nested in the crook of his left elbow as he tried to cover them as best he could with his right hand.

“We still fit,” Haru observed and he curled his frame on himself a little bit more, his hair ending up brushing the fingertips of Rin’s left hand.

Silence fell upon them and Rin could hear Haru’s breathing slowing down, as well as his shivers. Sadly, the dozing feeling Rin had lost when Haru had woken him up still had to come back, so Rin ended up wide awake and stuck in a position that would either make him fall off the bed or bump into Haru, depending on what side he would turn his body.

He slowly moved his legs, just enough for his backside to fit better on the mattress and then let his upper body follow, stopping when his right arm was positioned in front of his body, touching Haru’s.

Rin could feel the barely warm puffs of Haru’s breath ghosting across his face; his breathing was even – a sign that Haru was indeed asleep. Absentmindedly his fingertips started moving, twirling Haru’s hair as the tip of Rin’s index occasionally stroked the scalp, and Rin didn’t even realize he was doing it until Haru moved in his sleep, shifting his body closer to him until Rin’s whole hand was gently pressed against Haru’s hair.

Rin smiled despite the deep blush spreading on his cheeks and eventually let his eyes close, welcoming sleep to come over him.

 

* * *

  

Rin was woken up by the alarm of his cellphone and three things occurred to him.

The first thing was that his cellphone was too far away for him to be bothered to stand up and turn it off.

The second thing was that one of the covers was off the bed, while the second was barely covering the two of them from the waist down.

The third thing was that he and Haru were definitely closer than when they had fallen asleep, given that Haru’s face was pressed against Rin’s chest while Rin’s own arm was wrapped around Haru’s shoulder.

The bonus thing he noticed was that Haru slept through the whole ringing of the cellphone alarm.

“Oi, Haru,” he called with his voice still cracking from sleep.

“Hmm,” Haru’s voice was muffled against his chest and Rin tapped his fingers against the back of Haru’s head until the other boy pulled back. His eyes were still half closed from sleep but already glaring at Rin.

Rin, on the other hand, burst into laughter at the sight in front of him. It wasn’t the half glare or the messy hair that cracked him up but the fact that there, in the middle of Haru’s forehead, he could see the imprint of his necklace against Haru’s skin.

“Stop laughing, is too early,” Haru muttered in annoyance.

“Can’t help it,” Rin laughed back. “You have a shark tooth imprinted on your forehead,” he said with a cackle.

“Huh?” Haru asked confused.

“Here,” Rin said, pressing the fingertip of his thumb against the skin on Haru’s forehead and tracing the tip along the imprint.

“Oh.” Haru’s eyes crossed a bit as he tried to look up at Rin’s finger on his forehead before his eyes moved to the actual necklace hanging from Rin’s neck.

“Is it real?” he then wondered, his hand clasping around the charm.

“Uh?” Rin asked, confused, before he looked down at where Haru’s hand was. “I think it’s a replica, it was too cheap for it to be a real tooth,” he explained.

Haru nodded slowly, his eyes now open but his expression turned into a thoughtful one.

“Haru?” Rin asked, almost concerned when the other boy didn’t seem to move. “We should probably move if we want to have a proper breakfast before…”

“Thanks for last night,” Haru interrupted him and his eyes finally lifted up enough to look at Rin’s.

“Oh, no problem,” Rin said back, surprised at the sudden change of topic. “You feel better today?”

Haru nodded. “It was probably the chicken we had for dinner,” he reasoned aloud.

“Hey!” Rin objected, suddenly feeling the blood rushing into his face. “It was not the chicken, don’t you even dare blame it on my cooking!”

“I never get shivers when I have mackerel for dinner,” Haru explained

“It was not the chicken,” Rin objected again.

“Then it was your cooking.”

“Stop blaming me for you being reckless, if you don’t remember, let me remind you that you were the one who would walk around in _short pants_ in winter!”

A sudden silence fell between them, both recalling that day from years before.

“You remember what I was wearing?” Haru asked, surprised.

Rin felt his cheeks burning and he had to move his eyes away from Haru and focus on a spot above his head. “I’m pretty sure I have that whole day imprinted in my memory,” he admitted.

More seconds of silence passed until Rin felt Haru’s hand, finally releasing the charm only to move lower to press against Rin’s chest.

“You were wearing a checkered beige scarf,” Haru muttered.

Rin’s eyes widened in shock but before his brain could even process the fact that Haru Everything-Is-So-Bothersome Nanase remembered such a detail from that day years ago, it already shut down at the sudden feeling of a pair of lips being clumsily pressed against his own.

Because after dropping the memory bomb, Haru for sure dropped another one when he kissed Rin.

But then the kiss ended and Haru’s head moved away from Rin’s.

“Why… what was that?” Rin asked, unsure, his cheeks so on fire he could probably boil tea on them.

“It was a thank you for last night,” Haru said calmly, although Rin could notice his cheeks were also pink.

Rin’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion and he was really not going to admit the pang that shot through his stomach was a feeling of sadness.

“Do you also kiss Makoto as a thank you?” he asked back; he was not letting anyone play him around like that.

“No,” Haru replied calmly.

“Why not?”

“He is not you,” Haru said right back and Rin’s eyes widened in shock because there was no way Haru was implying what Rin thought he was implying.

Except that the hand on his chest had now moved to his side, the thumb stroking Rin’s skin through the fabric with an affection that made him wish Makoto was there because, even if the situation would have ended up being way more awkward than it already was, at least he could have asked their friend what Haru was actually thinking.

Because a part of Rin was still refusing to accept it.

“Rin?”

“Huh?”

“I liked it when you played with my hair last night,” Haru said calmly, which obviously confused Rin even more.

“I… I…” he stuttered. “I used to play with Gou’s hair like that when we would share the bed as kids… when she had nightmares…,” he explained in a murmur.

“But I’m not your sister,” Haru muttered.

“I know, duh.”

“The situation would have been highly inappropriate if we were related,” Haru continued in his usual calm voice.

Rin wanted to snap something back but he bit his tongue at the last moment, trying to word another question instead.

“And what is this situation?” he asked eventually. His heart was beating furiously, but he needed to figure out what Haru was implying and no, he was not going to actually ask Makoto to translate.

He followed Haru’s eyes as the other boy glanced to the ceiling and Rin almost felt a sense of pride when he noticed the pink color darkening and spreading through Haru’s cheeks.

“Haru…,” he said as his hand stretched out in front of him, grasping the side of Haru’s face and turning it so he was facing him again. Rin eventually moved his face closer, his eyes glued to Haru’s until they closed, their lips almost touching again (and Rin’s competing side was set on making this kiss epic and not clumsy as Haru’s first one) when the alarm of his cellphone resounded again, startling both of them and making their forehead clash.

“Damn it,” Rin cursed under his breath and massaged his forehead as Haru eventually climbed over his legs and proceeded to turn off the alarm.

“You can have the bathroom first, I’m going to start on breakfast,” Haru declared then, leaving a speechless Rin behind.

“What?” Rin’s mouth dropped from the surprise at what had just happened in the last minute or so. “Oi, Haru, wait,” he tried to call out, because there was no way they were leaving the house without discussing this first.

 

* * *

 

“Damn it, fuck, and _shit,_ ” Rin cursed under his breath as he tied the shoelaces on his running shoes. By the time he had come out of the bathroom, Haru hadn’t only fixed them both breakfast but also finished his own already, moving past Rin to get his own turn in the bathroom and leaving the other boy eating breakfast alone.

Which was why Rin was now cursing in all the languages he knew as he started stretching in the genkan. Not only were they already late but Rin had also failed at talking to Haru. He pulled one leg behind him, feeling the muscles of his body slowly stretching awake.

“Haru, I’m going to leave you behind if you don’t hurry up!” he called out. At this point he had resigned himself that whatever had happened in the past hours had been a one-time thing; one that would never repeat itself. Maybe eating chicken before sleep did indeed make Haru do some crazy things. The boy was so fixed on eating mackerel or fish in general, that probably the smallest amount of different protein would cause a chemical reaction in his brain and make him act oddly.

That was a totally reasonable explanation and Rin was ready to accept it.

“Haru!” he called again, moving to stretch his other leg and pressing a hand against the wall so he wouldn’t lose his balance.

“Coming,” Haru’s voice reached his ears and indeed a second later Haru appeared in the genkan, stopping just in front of Rin.

“We’ll be late,” Rin said as he searched Haru’s eyes; for once their eye level was off balance because of the high step in the entrance.

And then Haru just kissed him again, in the genkan, Rin’s leg dropping down with a loud _thump_.

He gaped when Haru pulled away and quickly sat down to put on his own running shoes, Rin looking at him dumbfounded.

“We’re going to be late,” was the first thing Haru eventually said, in his usual calm voice and at that point Rin really did decide he would ask Makoto to tutor him in Haru’s language because he was slowly giving up on understanding him.

“What was that?!” he exclaimed.

“Huh?” Haru looked at him confused. “A kiss?”

“I know what it was, damn it,” Rin blurted out. “Is this how this is going to be?” he asked almost exasperated. “You just randomly decide to kiss me like that?” Rin bit on his tongue, realizing he sounded like a heroine from one of the shoujo manga his little cousin would obsess over.

“Of course not,” Haru said calmly and walked to the front door, opening it and looking back at Rin. “You can kiss me as well.”

Rin’s mouth dropped open in shock before he shook his head in exasperation (but also relief) and ran a hand through his hair; tying it up in a ponytail.

He snorted before a grin appeared on his lips and he grasped the duffel bag with his stuff and put it over his shoulder, following Haru out of the house.

Maybe it was not the chicken.

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was my first fic in the free! Fandom, yay?  
> Also, that thing with Haru randomly shivering for five to ten minutes, is actually what happens to me every time I end up getting caught in a downpour, the last time it happened was barely two weeks ago, and if you’re wondering – yes, there was hail involved as well.  
> And that umbrella with sakura petals and kittens exists and I almost bought it today.
> 
> And I can’t forget the necessary list of thanks: hanks to szors for letting me bounce the idea on her, tottorin for her dash that made me felt trolled for the past two weeks or so, altonatrials for being the first to say it doesn’t suck - I will plot out a sequel, I swear! And to thilia for being the beta :D
> 
> PS: the umbrella  
> 


End file.
